BILLTESKA

We were joking the other day about believing six impossible things before breakfast, like Alice in Wonderland. Most of Christianity is about believing impossible things, like old women and virgins getting pregnant, the rich sent away empty, and the humble and meek exalted. These things are not natural. But let us always be wary when someone tells us about what is natural and what isn’t. Sometimes what is natural is the most conservative. Today we celebrate something most definitely not natural, and not at all conservative: that Love is stronger than death.

That is the fundamental affirmation of anyone who has chosen to accept life in this world. Everyone who has made the decision not to commit suicide has a certain faith ~ a trust that there is something good, something worth living for. At bottom it is trust that Love is stronger than death. Death may disfigure love and do all kinds of damage, but it cannot finally conquer love. Living amidst the outrages of history it is possible to forget that they are all temporary, and that in the end Love is stronger than death. But if we stop and look, we can see that Love is everywhere ~ even in the seemingly darkest places. There is an excellent British comedy on this theme, Love, Actually. Its simple conceit is that the old pop song Love is All Around was right. Love actually is all around! And it is stronger than death.

Love is vulnerable ~ humble and meek, even ~ and so it may seem weak, not strong, powerless, not mighty. But that is appearance, illusion. The hidden reality we celebrate today is that Love is strong, invincible.

Weakness shall the strong confound.
By the hands in grave-clothes wound
Adam’s chains shall be unbound.
So behold!
All the gates of heav’n unfold.

Elizabeth, who was called barren, conceived John the Forerunner when she was past he age of childbearing. Mary was her kinswoman and went to stay with her for the birth. Christianity’s greatest hymn ~ the words of the Bl. Virgin to Elizabeth, called the Magnificat ~ are about this paradox, about the apparent weakness of the Love that is stronger than death. Mary herself was weak and powerless and unimportant. As a woman, her only identity was her relationship to a man. First her father, and then Joseph her betrothed. But she was pregnant out of wedlock, and not by him. Had Joseph not been a just man, who loved her in spite of her obvious betrayal, he could have had her killed. But Joseph decided to treat her differently, quietly, and not as the law provided. Because he loved her. Only after his decision did the angel reveal to him the impossible truth.

Mary herself is an instance of the words of her song: He hath put down the mighty from their seat and exalted the humble and meek. Love ~ humble and meek and vulnerable to being hurt, like Joseph ~ is exalted to the seat of the mighty. Everywhere we look we can see the fact in the microcosm of life. Love actually is all around, and Love is stronger than death. We can see it everywhere in interpersonal relationships. But our Lady’s words apply not only to our private lives. In social, political, and cosmic terms also, Love is stronger than death.

He hath showed strength with His arm,
He hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts,
He hath put down the mighty from their seat
And hath exalted the humble and meek;
He hath filled the hungry with good things,
And the rich He hath sent empty away.
He, remembering His mercy, hath holpen His servant Israel,
As he promised to our forefathers,
Abraham and his seed forever.

The fulfillment of the promise may lie in the future, but the promise is the
promise of God, and though it may seem impossible, it cannot fail. It is now the
sixth month with her who was called barren, and the Virgin has conceived.

Love is stronger than death.

AMEN

MARANATHA

COME, LORD JESUS!

# posted by billteska : 7:39 PM